H/T to the WSJ China blog for sending us this bit of nonsense, which is bound to get me in trouble:

Dreamworks’ “Kung Fu Panda” has proven to be a champ in the U.S., where the film has grossed close to $120 million since opening on Jun. 6. But in China, where it’s scheduled for release this Friday, it may face a fight at the box office.

I sense some sort of bullshit protest like the ones against "The Little Mermaid" over Sebastian the reggae crab, who was apparently too ethnic for some folks.

China’s Internet bulletin boards are buzzing with the debate over whether the film should be boycotted. The Hecaitou blog has photos of a recent three-man protest outside the offices of the State Administration of Radio Film and Television in Beijing, along with images of a petition addressed to Sarft calling for the film’s release to be canceled.

“If the Hollywood film ‘Kung Fu Panda’ is released on Jun. 20, it will be just like snatching the necklaces and watches from the corpses of disaster victims,” the petition reads.

Yeah, I was right. A three-person protest in front of SARFT, that's quite impressive. Let's find out what twisted logic is being employed to justify the boycott.

The protest and petition were led by artist Zhao Bandi, whose work incorporates panda motifs.

OK, stop right there. There is a concept in law called "standing," which roughly means that if you want to sue someone, you have to be an affected party or in some way fall within a class of persons that could be affected. Obviously this dude has a standing problem. His "work incorporates panda motifs"? WTF???

Among the main gripes with the film: Hollywood is exploiting China’s “national treasure” (its pandas) and its martial arts; the film is made by Dreamworks, a studio founded by Steven Spielberg (who withdrew from his role as an adviser to the Beijing Olympics earlier this year over concerns about China’s role in Sudan); and more broadly, it’s a Hollywood film, and Hollywood is the place that produced Sharon Stone, reviled in China for her Cannes comments about Tibet, the Sichuan earthquake and karma.

Let's unpack this a bit. First, "exploiting" pandas is a national sport. 94% of all merchandise at the airport involves pandas in some way. I don't think it's exploitation, of course, but if you also want to yell at the Australians for "exploiting" kangeroos and koala bears, go right ahead. That's a crappy argument.

Second, exploiting martial arts? There's another applicable legal term here: waiver. If you don't complain about atrocious martial arts films of the past (e.g. anything with Steven Seagall), not to mention the Shaolin monks in Vegas, then you waive your right to complain about this one. Loser argument.

Third and Fourth — getting back at Spielberg and Sharon Stone. Not a bad argument – I'm actually a big fan of spite. However, if you are going to go down that road, you should pick something that is much more closely connected with the people you despise. I suppose there will not be any Sharon Stone movies in China in the near future that can be boycotted, so that's a problem. I don't think Spielberg is likely to do much over here either for a while. Anyway, that's a nice try but ultimately an unconvincing argument as well.

Here's my favorite part of the article:

According to the Beijing News (in Chinese) Zhao met with the head of Sarft’s film department yesterday. After the meeting, Zhao said he could accept the release of the film in Chinese theaters but suggested that it be delayed or canceled in areas that were hit by the massive May 12 earthquake in Sichuan (home of the giant panda), noting that the emotions of the people there are still quite raw.

Aren't we all happy that he can "accept" the release of the film? Arrogance is a wonderful thing. I also like how the earthquake has been brought into the conversation. Nice touch arguing that a children's movie, an innocuous one by all accounts, will cause emotional harm to viewers in Sichuan. Thanks for your medical opinion on that, Dr. Freud.

Why does this piss me off? Partially because it's the end of the day, and I'm a bit tired and cranky. Kind of like John McCain 100% of the time.

But more than that, I hate to see a national tragedy used by someone to pump up his own name. And to target a kid movie is really uncalled for. I think everyone could use some harmless family entertainment, don't you?

FYI, an informal poll of the folks in my office suggests that the movie will do just fine in China, despite the naysayers.